A new, 7-foot wide bike lane has been striped on NE 7th Avenue between NE Weidler and NE Oregon through the Lloyd District. The striping was installed last month and in some segments places bicycle traffic adjacent to newly laid streetcar tracks on one side and parked cars on the other.

“PBOT changed the striping plan.. It’s unclear to me who was consulted before changing the plan… We should do what we said we were going to do.”— Chris Smith, Portland Streetcar Inc., board of directors

While a new bike lane might seem like good news, some insiders are miffed that plans to stripe 7th as a cycle track were not honored.

The striping comes as a surprise because space on NE 7th is supposed to be set aside for a future cycle track. The cycle track isn’t funded yet, but project staff and planners have designed the route with a cycle track in mind. Striping NE 7th with a bike lane sandwiched between streetcar tracks and parked cars was never in the plans.

The current striping maintains 10 parking spaces, weaving between them and the streetcar tracks.

Julie Gustafson with streetcar project contractor Shiels Obletz Johnsen, Inc. confirmed that their plans for NE 7th include parking removal, center platforms, and the moving of tracks further to the east in the street “specifically to allow for a potential future cycle track.”

A letter by Lloyd Transportation Management Association Executive Director Rick Williams dated June 22nd urges Mayor Sam Adams to keep the future cycle track in the plans. “A cycletrack design that includes a buffer between bikes and cars,” he wrote, “will greatly increase the safety of these areas.”

Chris Smith, a City of Portland Planning Commissioner who sits on the Portland Streetcar Inc. board of directors says as they were planning the segment of the streetcar alignment they heard loud and clear that putting “cyclists between parked cars and the rails was not desired.”

Smith said back in 2009 the streetcar project agreed to stripe the street in a “cycle track configuration” — with the bikeway along the curb and a more direct route (with removal of on-street parking).

But that isn’t what happened. “Sometime between then and now,” Smith shared via email yesterday, “PBOT changed the striping plan.” Smith says he was caught by surprise. “It’s unclear to me who was consulted before changing the plan… We should do what we said we were going to do.”

Smith feels that if PBOT wanted to change the striping plans, they should have done so only after consulting the community, the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), and the Lloyd Transportation Management Association (LTMA).

When I emailed the LTMA about the new striping, they made it clear they hadn’t been consulted by PBOT prior to the striping and the striping has not been formally discussed at the monthly BAC meetings.

Once the striping was installed, PBOT was notified by several parties. According to a source, PBOT Director Tom Miller had several phone meetings about it with the Lloyd TMA, Portland Streetcar Inc., and others. Now a new striping plan — which more closely resembles the “cycle track configuration” — has been drawn up and is likely to be taken to the Lloyd TMA and the BAC for feedback.

At this time, I haven’t heard back from City Hall or from PBOT about the situation and it’s unclear when or if the existing striping will be modified. I’ll keep you posted.

— For another look at the current bike lane configuration (between NE Holladay and Oregon), watch the video below taken by Northeast Portland resident Paul Manson on August 23rd (note the track-straddling SUV that encroaches into the bike lane at about the 12 second mark):

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39 Comments

Chris ISeptember 8, 2011 at 2:00 pm

The only advantage of this seems to be that it prevents parked cars from infringing in the streetcar ROW, which can happen along other parts of the line. Clearly, a cycle track would be better here for cyclists, but poorly-parked cars could block the streetcar.

I thought it was actually pretty well done. It allows you to cross the tracks at the right angle. I did have a bit of an awkward interaction today with a car that was confused, but everything worked out.

Unfortunately half a block later the bike lane magically and invisibly moves a lane and a half to the right causing more problems.

The car in the video that swerves into the bike lane to avoid driving on the tracks is emblematic of one of the huge problems I’ve seen with street car tracks. People don’t want to drive on them so they just put their car into some non-normal position to avoid it. This will probably lead to someone (on a bike) getting sideswiped eventually (if it hasn’t already).

The problem is with the drivers. I have the same problem on NE 181st where drivers shift over to start their turn onto the freeway on ramp. It is not the on ramp’s, or the freeway’s problem, it’s the drivers.

To clarify, it’s not a new bike lane; 7th has had bike lanes in that stretch for years. While the facility is not a cycle-track, the bike lanes are now considerably wider than they used to be. In the area shown between Oregon and Holliday in your last photo, a lane of parking was removed to accommodate the wider bike lanes on both sides.

(On a side note I’ve been amused by the removal of parking in that block which has come at the same time as strident opposition to removing parking on Holliday has been voiced)

The biggest issue I’ve observed (I’m in the area most weekdays to pick up my wife when I’m not on my bike) is people parking illegally in the northbound bike lane where parking used to be.

It’s not a question of expense at this point, as we’re only talking about paint/thermoplastic either way. But we heard loud and clear that folks riding didn’t want to be inbetween the door zone and the rails. Even though the lane is pretty wide, I think we need to honor that if we want to attract the ‘interested but concerned’ segment.

Thanks, Chris — agreed. The “interested but concerned” demographic would also respond well, I think, if the new facility on 7th were extended across the couplet. Sure, that’s not part of the eastside streetcar project, but PBOT should be on top of this sort of thing. That’s a crowded and hectic crossing used by hundreds of cyclists everyday. Doesn’t exactly fit with our “platinum” status.

As I’ve written before, the bike lanes on 7th should connect across Weidler and Broadway; sharrows should go down on 7th north of the couplet (as they are supposed to be used according to the MUTCD — not as wayfinders); and the right turn lane onto Broadway from 7th southbound should be removed and a bike box installed.

Cars leaving the parking spaces and cars backing into parallel parking spaces will block the bike lane and cut through the bike lane. I think the 7′ width is plenty generous and it is a good faith effort that will be safe for attentive cyclists, still you asked.

I commute (on bike) through this area both ways every day. While less than ideal, it is much nicer than no paint on the road at all.

Tracks are a part of life in this city. I don’t personally ride the street care or Max but I am glad they are there. People need to learn how to negociate them, just like round abouts, uncontrolled intersections, left hand turns, and any other issues that exist in a shared community.

They did stripe the road with a cycle track configuration on the Northbound side of NE 7th between NE Multnomah and Halsey. However there are cars parking in the bike lane similar to what happens on SW Broadway.

A cycle track would be better. PBOT, please put one in!
And what happened to public process on this? This gives the impression that plans for bike improvements can be changed for the worse without consulting anyone. Seems like a public process double standard to me….

Ah yes: the streetcar takes yet another functional street and turns it into an awkward tangle of obstacles both physical and political. People have criticized the streetcar for actually taking more time than walking, but they can always fix that comparison by botching every current mode of adjacent transportation other than streetcar. “Problem solved!”

I rode this street last night and found it very comfortable. There is a section (northbound, between Multnomah and Halsey where the bike lane is between the parking area and sidewalk like a cycle track. So what’s the problem again?

If I’m foolish enough, I may legally ride my bike within reach of a passing MAX train here (link), for example, but the lane treatment doesn’t constrain me to do so. There, I can maintain about ten feet (or more?) between my bike and the rail car.

However, the treatment along NE 7th, does constrain me thus.

Sorry, if I missed it, but I don’t get how your statements above address the safety issue I’m raising. I get your connection between the R.O.W. issue and it’s potential to maybe color only the broadest thinking about the safety of adjacent traffic, but in relation to this specific safety question, I’d say it doesn’t follow.

I would suggest that a traffic engineer thinks about separating you from MAX the same way they think about separating you from a freight train, while they think about separating you from Streetcar the way they think about separating you from an automobile or bus.

Having said that, my personal objective for 7th Ave is to make sure you never get squeezed between the door zone and a Streetcar vehicle or rail.

If you’re suggesting that we should have a physical barrier Streetcar and bikes on 7th Ave, I don’t think that’s possible in the dimensions of the street (at least without removing ALL parking). That kind of separation in that neighborhood would only be achieved by putting Streetcar and bikes on separate streets.